...for he is like a refiner's fire... and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier... and purge (me) as gold and silver, that (I) may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. I must receive into the depths of my heart the searching scrutiny of God which removes the dross of selfishness, sin and judgement that I may praise His name forever.

About Me A searcher of knowledge and understanding, relevant to my personal journey of faith

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He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou find refuge: His truth is a shield and bucklerPsalms 91:4

Be it ours,when we cannot see the face of God, to trust under the shadow of His wings. C.H. Spugeon

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Love,Life & Liberty

Martin Luther King"s words "I have a dream ..." are the heart's cry of all men. His words form context for every man, regardless of creed, faith, nationality, ethnicity, etc,. "I have a dream" with its' universal appeal provides a thread to defining freedom for all men.

Romans 6:16, Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey, you are that one's slave ..."

"He who loves obeys and he who obeys loves."

Freedom, true freedom is of the heart, the realm of the ambiguous. Freedom in life and reality is the absence of fear, the absolute value of love. Love's true value is equated with the absence of fear. "True love casts out all fear.." Freedom is found in love.

Freedom is the liberty of mind and spirit to cast oneself into the service of one who loves you. This is a very difficult concept to grasp, even more difficult to relate and apply to life. This idea does not translate well in this culture of individualism, narcissism and the seemingly unlimited access, opportunity and options available. With everything imaginable at the offing, Why would anyone believe they are enslaved, even more controversial and distressing, to claim that they are willing and able participants in their own slavery.

Options are viewed as the ultimate expression of freedom. Anarchy professes to increase opportunity, however options operating without sensibility and control create chaos. Opportunities are not always conducive or enhancing of performance, productivity or personal satisfaction. An abyss of liberty can exist where there is so much freedom that a man is paralyzed by the options or driven to sample everything, neither being liberating or freeing. If the liberal mindset understood the limitations imposed upon the human spirit by yielding to the power of unlimited liberty, they would balk at their own stupidity.

The lie of freedom is that it is limitless, without want. At what cost? Freedom without defining principles of justice and love fail to express what freedom means - a will that demands obedience must be motivated by love. We are all subject to a will. Freedom lives within the context of that subjection. Freedom is not action without consequence, but the consequences must be understood as a child learns to understand the love of a father through the discipline of a father.

Freedom means to live without fear, whether that be fear of reprisal, just retribution or remorse. Fear is essentially derived from an understanding and dread of justice that will be served. Our inherent guilt motivates a quest for freedom, or at least a definition (belief), that negates the pending sense of doom.

If we could just believe that something exists that could appease our guilt and allow us the 'freedom' to determine our own path, to act without conscience. Fear itself brings its own consequence.

Aldous Huxley says' "The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics. He is concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do."

If John 3:16, "For God so loved the world ..." is true, then without excuse, no man alive can deny that freedom only exists within the parameters of Biblical teaching, and the undeniable reality of the love of God.

1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, ..."